We consider the cost and benefits of reaching Millennium Development Goal for clean water and sanitation (Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems, Bjorn Lomborg, 2007, pp. 414). Reaching this goal would cost $11b/yr, prevent 4.9m DALYs/yr, and produce $121b/yr in time savings. There might be some undercounting of the DALYs saved due to the strange data presentation used in the table we are citing.
| Project | Cost | Real world outcome | Outcome estimates | Economic value in Western terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water and sanitation MDG | $11b/yr | prevent 4.9m DALYs/yr and $121b/yr time savings | - | $560b/yr |
50?
We question this result because the number of children's lives saved/yr 1.8m reported by WaterAID for a global campaign doesn't sync with the number of DALYs saved/yr 4.9m reported in Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems (Bjorn Lomborg, 2007, pp. 414) for a Millenium Develpment Goal 7 campaign, which is to halve the number without access to clean water and sanitation by 2015.